LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

(SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.) 

Chap 

Shelf :Q^Q^^ I 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ■ 




^ C H A N N I N G. ^ 



A DISCOUESE 



DELIVERED AT 



COVENTRY, NORTHAMPTON, 
AND WAEWICK. 



JOHN liORDON. 



^ PRICE ONE SHILLING. ^ 



A DISCOURSE 



ON OCCASION OF THE 

DEATH OF THE LATE DS. CHANNINa 



DELIVERED IN THE 

GEEAT MEETING-HOUSE, COVENTEY, 



ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1842, 



AND RE-DELIVERED 



AT NOETHAMPTON AND WAEWICK. 




Some to higher hopes 
Were clestin'd ; some within a finer mould 
She wrought, and temper 'd with a purer flame : 
To these the Sire Omnipotent unfolds 
The world's harmonious volume, there to read 
The transcript of Himself.— Akenside. 



LONDON : 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN GREEN, NEWGATE STREET; 

AND 

E. CARTER, COYENTRY. 

M.DCCCXLII. 



E. CARTBIt, 
miKTEE, HIGH-STREET, 
COTENTST. 



DISCOURSE. 



^^Many shall sejoice at his biuth." — Lulce i.l-i. 

Death, we are told, levels all distinctions : and it 
does so, as far as its empire extends. But there are 
some tilings exempted from its dominion, and over 
which it has no power. Truth and goodness cannot 
die. They possess an " incorruptible seed which 
liveth and abideth for ever." The destiny of the 
world is accomplished by the continued growth of 
that seed through the successive periods of history. 
It is the ordinance of heaven that men should be 
raised up from time to time, whose especial work it 
is to sow this immortal seed. God does not trust 
this work to the ordinary operations of the human 
mind alone. There are minds which he constitutes 
for its distinctive performance, and with whose ef- 
forts particular departments of truth and goodness 
become identified. The men who are thus chosen 
from the rest are the great benefactors of the race. 
They are felt and acknowledged to be such ; and the 
immortality which belongs to the objects they ac- 
complish is also connected with their names and 
characters. Death, instead of destroying their influ- 
ence, perpetuates and enlarges it. 

To one of these men I am about to call your 
attention on this occasioii. I do not hesitate to say 



4 



tliat, in my judgment, Dr. Channing was one of 
the master spirits of his age. His influence has 
been felt in this country, as v/ell as in America, to 
an ahnost universal extent ; and it has continued 
rapidly to increase since it began to operate. There 
are, I would fain believe, few, if any, hearts in this 
assembly which have not been warmed by liis 
burning eloquence — which have not been strength- 
ened and elevated by the lofty principles he pro- 
pounded. He is dead. Though I had no personal 
knowledge of him, his death, when I heard of it, 
affected me as would that of a dear and intimate 
friend; for it was one of the prerogatives of his 
genius to create in those who were conversant with 
it, an ardent affection for himself I am not here 
to lament his death. An infinitely wise and gra- 
cious pro™lence, to whose appointments we unmui- 
muringly submit, ordained that it should occur. I 
am here to draw instruction and improvement from 
it as best I may. It leads us most naturally to re- 
view his character, and to recal to mind the lorin- 
ciples to whose advocacy he devoted his life. To 
those points I shall confine myself 

I. Being unacquainted with Dr. Channing per- 
sonally, I shall say nothing of his private character, 
but that I have ahvays understood it to have been 
the counterpart of the mingled greatness and good- 
ness which shine forth in his literary productions. 
It is to the character developed in those productions 
that I shall exclusively address myself I will men- 
tion what seem to ine some of its most prominent 
featui'es. 



5 



1. The first mental cliaracteristic which I shall 
notice as attaching to him is, the disposition he had 
to concern himself mainly, if not exclusively, with 
the principles of a subject. 

His mind grasped the essential points on the 
questions with which he had to do, and he invariably 
endeavoured to resolve those questions by an appeal 
to the cardinal truths Avith which they might be 
identified. He troubled himself but little with argu- 
ments which merely suited the case in hand, but 
addressed himself to those arguments which would 
equally apply to all other similar cases. He was 
not careful to meet each separate detail of his sub- 
ject, but contented himself with enforcing the great 
ideas to whose law all such details were subservient. 
He put aside the considerations which immediately 
related to party interests, and dwelt only upon those 
interests which were of universal bearing. 

This attention to principle will appear the more 
remarkable, when we remember that much of what 
he wrote w^as occasioned by the current questions 
of the day — the American abolition movement — 
the annexation of Texas to the United States — the 
formation of organised associations — the case of the 
Creole. Another man would have regarded these 
things only according to their individual merits, 
they being the matters of general discussion ; but 
Channing traced them all up to their fountain 
truths, and thus gave to their discussion an eleva- 
tion correspondent to the superiority of his own 
mind. 

This mental tendency affords the chief reason 



6 



for tliat frequent repetition of important triitlrs 
wliicli we meet with in his works. It will be found 
on examination, not to be a repetition of mere 
sentiment, but a new application of an essential 
principle. 

If there be anything clistinctive of a great man, 
it is the characteristic to which I am now alluding:. 
The power of combination which it developes, the 
acuteness of insight which it implies, place him to 
whom it belongs far above his fellows. Nor is 
such a characteristic less promotive of the influence 
of its possessor, than it is distinctive of his great- 
ness. It gives a breadth of application to the truth 
he may advocate, which secures for it a constant 
utility. To the tracts to which I have referred, 
though professedly relating only to the current 
questions of the day, men, Vidio take but little in- 
terest in those questions themselves, turn for the 
benefit of the great principles they imbody, and will 
continue to turn even when those questions have 
lost the intei'est which they now possess. 

2. Another mental characteristic belonging to 
the subject of my remarks is, the great strength and 
fulness of thought by which he was distinguished. 

There was nothing like feebleness in his utter- 
ance of the principles to which he directed his 
attention. As delivered by him they possessed a 
clearness of substance, and definiteness of form, 
which proved that they stood to him in the relation 
of truth. They breathed a vital freshness which 
showed that the truth he had embraced was his oivn, 
being animated by the original exercise of his mind 



7 



upon it ; and tliey assumed a weight and enlarge*- 
ment of sentiment wliicli indicated the more than 
ordinary intellectual force with which they were 
conceived and applied. No one can read a page of 
his writings without seeing not only that he was 
sincere and earnest, but that the depth of his con- 
viction, and the energy of his zeal, w^ere such as can 
only be produced by a great expenditure of thought 
upon the point in hand. He carries along lesser 
minds by the mere power which he infuses into his 
opinions. He delivers no half-truths. He speaks 
in no faltering language. He permits no mistake 
as to his meaning. He manifests no indifference 
as to his conclusions. He produces the impression 
he wishes to produce in its most palpable form. 
His views are free from ambiguity, and must either 
be wholly accepted or wholly rejected. His in- 
fluence is incalculably assisted by the unwonted 
vigour he infuses into his appeals. 

All this is especially evident when he has to 
insist upon common truths — truths universally 
known and acknowledged. In his hands they 
appear new and original, and are armed with a 
strength which they were not seen to possess be- 
fore. If, as it has been said, — if it be " the highest 
prerogative of genius to produce the strongest im- 
pressions of novelty, while it rescues admitted truths 
from the neglect caused by the very circumstance 
of their universal admission*," Channing possessed 
such genius in its greatest degree. To this strength 
and fulness of thought w^e must also, in some 

CoLEEiDGE,— to Reflection. 



8 



measure, attribute tlie reiteration of principle on his 
part, to wliicli I before referred. His principles 
were dwelt upon again and again, and made to re- 
solve a variety of questions, because the vast power 
mth which they acted upon his mind seemed to 
have drawn all its exercises into themselves. It 
was no lack of thought, but a superabundance of 
thought, which caused the reiteration. 

3. Another feature of Dr. Channing's character 
is, the great mental activity which he displayed. 

No one can turn over his writings without re- 
marldng the frequency with which he came before 
the pubhc, and the variety of subjects to which his 
literary efforts related. As an eloquent and power- 
ful preacher he occupied the first position in his 
country, and a large part of what he wrote referred 
directly to the religious topics, the discussion of 
which constituted the chief business of his life. 
But his writings were not by any means exclusively 
professional, although everything he composed was 
deeply tinged with the religious character which 
became his official station. He seems to have neg- 
lected no opportunity of delivering and enforcing 
the great truths with which his mind was fraught. 
And yet he was as far as possible removed from a 
hackneyed writer— one whose busy temper would 
lead him to concern himself with every question as 
a matter of course. He never stepped forward but 
when he had sentiments of high importance to 
communicate, or when there was some pressing 
want which he only could supply. He appears to 
have been forced to what he did, either by the ful- 



9 



iiess of his own mind, or the emergency presented 
by the circumstances around him. His intellectual 
activity was, in fact, produced by a deep sense of 
moral duty, impelling him to say that with which 
his heart was charged, and which the condition of 
his country and the interests of humanity re- 
quired should be said. Each effort was, therefore, 
animated with spiritual life, and aimed at some 
wise purpose which he had in view. His activity 
was no restless motion, but the result of deep 
thought and ardent feeling, which could not be re- 
pressed. He regarded himself as called to every 
work of human blessing which he had the power 
to perform, and whether it concerned the religious, 
or political, or social welfare of mankind, he " did 
it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." It 
may be wished that he had devoted himself to the 
composition of some great works, which might 
have imbodied his chief principles in a more 
universal form than that in which they now appear. 
However much better that might have been for his 
future fame, it cannot be doubted but that the 
course he took — that of availing himself of the 
questions agitated around him as the vehicles of 
those principles — was one to which he was led by 
an ever-present sense of responsibility ; and in fol- 
lowing it he sacrificed his own glory to the imme- 
diate utility which he effected. 

4. A fourth feature in the mental character of 
Dr. Channing is, the intrepidity with which he 
carried out the principles he adopted. 

He never shrank from consistently and reso- 



10 



lately applying tlie sentiments he embraced to the 
utmost extent to which he deemed them capable of 
application. He never shrank from acting up to 
the rules of conduct which he recommended. He 
did this in the face of dangers to character and 
fame, and influence, and even to person, of no ordi- 
nary kind, and under circumstances in which no- 
thing but a faitliful devotion to the mterests of 
what he deemed to be truth could have formed the 
inducement to his conduct. 

When a conceahnent of obnoxious rehgious 
opinions might have secured for him a position of 
universal respect among the churches of America, 
he boldly declared those opinions — came forward 
before the rest, voluntarily to declare them — and 
thus exposed himself to persecution of great severity. 

When the mind of the American public was 
inflamed against the attempts made to expose the 
abominations of slavery, as existing in some of its 
States, he stepped forth to brave the pubhc m'ath 
in favour of human liberty ; and although he 
did not entirely approve of the conduct of the 
Abohtionists, he became the most illustrious cham- 
pion of the principles of their cause. 

When political -sdews were advocated, and po- 
litical measures projected, which he deemed morally 
wrong and injmious, though in doing so he had to 
reprove the great mass of his countrymen, he did 
not shrink from the general odium which he iii- 
cuiTed, but denounced in plain and uncompromising 
terms the cruel, and ambitious, and despotic, and 
dishonest, and selfish schemes, which would have 



11 



sacrificed truth and rigliteoiisness at the shrme of 
national pride and aggrandisement. 

His conduct in all these respects was the exem- 
plification of his own language. 

" I call that mind free which jealously guards 
its intellectual rights and powers ; which calls no 
man master ; which does not content itself with a 
passive or hereditary faith ; which opens itself to 
light whencesoever it may come ; which receives 
new truth as an angel from heaven ; which, whilst 
consulting others, inquires still more of the oracle 
mthin itself; and uses instruction from abroad not 
to supersede, but to quicken and exalt its o^vn 
energies. I call that mind free which protects it- 
self against the usurpations of society ; wliich does 
not cower to human opinion ; which feels ItseK ac- 
countable to a higher tribunal than man's ; which 
respects a higher law than fashion ; which respects 
itself too much to be the slave or tool of the many 
or the few.*" 

5. The only other mental characteristic to 
w^hich I shall refer as distinctive of this great man, 
is the moral sympathy by which he was infiuenced. 

The elements of character which I have hitherto 
noticed, would, of themselves, be reconcilable mth 
a hard and stern disposition, which might pursue its 
purposes regardless of the charities of life. Such, 
however, was not by any means the case in this 
instance. Dr. Channing was as remarkable for the 
affectionate manner in which he appreciated all 
that was true and good belonging to those who 

Discoui'se on Sjnritua.I Freedom. 



12 



differed from him, as lie was for a faithful adhe- 
rence to his own principles. He rejoiced to point 
out, in a grateful spirit, the benefits which society 
has derived from individuals and systems which the 
indulgence of prejudice would have led him to 
treat with entire disapprobation ; and he has neg- 
lected no opportunity of doing justice to the orna- 
ments and benefactors of the world, wherever they 
may be found. His love to man and the great in- 
terests of humanity was superior to any love which 
he entertained for his own party, or for any pur- 
poses with whose advancement he himself had 
immediately to do. That love showed itself in 
merciful regards towards all the miserable among 
men. The poor and the oppressed found in him 
their readiest and most earnest advocate, nor was 
the criminal divorced from his pity. The same 
love appeared in the deep and tender friendships 
which he cultivated, and which dictated those 
melting tributes to the memory of his departed 
associates by which he has endeared them to our 
hearts. Perhaps the finest passages in his works 
are those in which these varied affections are dis- 
played. I have described the sympathy to which I 
am referring as moral sympathy. It was so pre- 
eminently. For moral beauty in all its forms it 
seems to have had a more than common affinity, 
and especially to have connected itself with all that 
was gentle and kind and benevolent in morality. 
Hence arose the extraordinary power which the 
character of Christ appeared to exercise upon his 
mind, and the elevated views he entertained of the 



13 



iiature and influence of the love which Christianity 
regards as the foundation of virtue. We scarcely 
need to be told that a softness of heart almost 
feminine belonged to him in his private relations ; 
for goodness, still more than greatness, shines forth 
in all that he has left to us. 

Even the mental intrepidity which I have de- 
scribed in his own language, v/as by him expressly 
identified with the sympathy of which I am now 
speaking, " I call that mind free which sets no 
bounds to its love ; which is not imprisoned in itself, 
or in a sect ; which recognises in all human beings 
the image of God and the rights of his children ; 
which delights in virtue and sympathises with suf- 
fering wherever they are seen ; which conquers 
pride, anger, and sloth, and offers itself up a willing 
victim to the cause of mankind*." 

Connecting together the various characteristics 
I have mentioned, it might almost appear that I 
have painted my own ideal of a great man. I have 
not done so, however. I have done no more than 
simply record the impressions which I have actually 
derived from Dr. Channing's writings. 

I have not referred with any particularity to 
the eloquence which distinguishes those writings, 
because eloquence is a form of mental expression, 
rather than a characteristic of mind itself. The 
form was, however, in this instance, too remarkable 
to be passed by unnoticed. The " truest eloquence " 
has been defined to be "practical reasoning ani- 
mated by strong emotion ; " and that definition 

* Discourse on Spirilmd Freedoyn. 



14 



miglit stand as a description of the mode in whicli 
Clianning wrought at once upon the intellect and 
the heart of those to whom he addressed himself. 
His reasoning was never confined to cold logical 
disquisition. It developed deep feeling, as much 
as sound argument; and when the rational establish- 
ment of the point in hand was the main object he 
had in view, he did not carry his hearer or reader 
into regions of abstract speculation, but invariably 
brought his subject home to the common interests 
of humanity, and the active business of hfe. There 
was on the other hand, nothing merely declamatory 
in his most fervid appeals. A presiding judgment, 
ever obedient to the strictest laws of mental investi- 
gation, gave clearness, and point, and strength, to his 
freest exhortations ; and made them as convincing 
to the understanding, as they were spirit-stirring. 

Like most eloquent men, he had a style of com- 
position in a great measure peculiar to himself — a 
style in which his thoughts were broken up into 
separate sentences, instead of proceeding in a con- 
tinuous flow, and which was eminently distinctive 
of the character of his mind, being that which is 
usually adopted under the influence of powerful 
sensibility. To him that style was but the natural 
utterance of his soul, and, fashioned as it was by 
the genius w^hich expressed itself through it, its 
very peculiarities gave additional force to what he 
delivered, although when imitated by others, it is 
as unsightly, and unwieldy, and injurious, as the 
armour of a giant upon an ordinary man. 

He Permit me now to turn from this review of 



15 



character to a notice of some of the prmciples to 
the enforcement of which Dr. Channing devoted 
his life. 

I select two points under this head. I will call 
your attention to the exalted conceptions which he 
entertained of humaniti/^ and to the supreme im- 
portance which he attached to religion. 

1 . The writings of Channing were distinguished 
by the exalted conceptions which he entertained of 
humanity. 

Man, according to his philosophy, constitutes 
the grand element of that universe of being with 
which he is connected. The glory with which 
he is invested is its chief glory; the interests which 
belong to him are those to which all others should 
be held as subservient; and his faculties are the great 
instruments by which the designs of the Creator 
are wrought out. He not only regarded man as 
possessing a value and importance with Avhich no 
other could be compared, but as possessing so su- 
preme a value, and so absorbing an importance, as 
to render it necessary that every event which may 
present itself to us— every system which may be 
devised — -every project which may be entertained — r 
every opinion which may be expressed — every ques- 
tion which may be proposed — should be judged of 
primarily as it stands related to the welfare of hu- 
manity. He deemed that the truth with regard to 
these things — the truth with which we have mainly 
to do — would be ascertained, and could only be as- 
certained, when they were viewed in that light. 
When he spoke of man in this relation, he did 



16 



not, however, as many liave done, refer to some 
ah str action, some general idea, which may be inclu- 
ded in that term. He meant by man, individual 
man — man as existing in the person of each one to 
whom he attributed the honour and worth for which 
he pleaded. 

Nor did he connect that honour and worth with 
anything accidental, or which was only partially 
possessed by mankind. He recognised no class 
distinctions. He put aside all particular instances 
of superiority as the foundation of the doctrine he 
taught on this head. The poor, the ignorant, the 
despised, the wronged, the depraved, the labourer 
no less than the aristocrat, the slave no less than 
his master, the child no less than the adult, w^ere 
exalted by him to the human dignity which it was 
his purpose to set forth. He stood up against 
honouring even great men at the expence of the 
race, and viewed their greatness only as a testi- 
mony to the value of universal humanity. " The 
true \iew," said he, " of great men is, that they are 
only examples and manifestations of our common 
nature, showing what belongs to all souls, though 
unfolded as yet only in a few. The light which 
shines fi'om them is, after all, but a faint revelation 
of the power which is treasured up in e^ ery human 
being. They are not prodigies, not miracles, but 
natural developments of the human soul. They 
are, indeed, as men among children ; but the chil- 
dren have a principle of growth which leads to 
manhood^." 

Sermon on Honour due to all Men. 



17 



lie did not, moreover, content himself with 
vague expressions on the subject of the giory be- 
longing to man — expressions which might be recon- 
ciled with any and every philosophy concerning 
his nature. He clearly pointed out where he 
thought that glory lay. He placed it in the spiri- 
tual power which attaches to man — the power 
which he can exert upon himself as distinguished 
from the sensual tendencies and passionate impulses 
of which he is the subject. He taught that the lat- 
ter were to be controuled and subdued by the former, 
and that man rose to the elevation destined for him 
just so far as he obeyed the authority which his 
reason and conscience were plainly intended to ex- 
ercise over all the rest of his nature. The spiritual 
faculties to w^hicli he thus gave supremacy, he also 
taught w^ere to be placed under the regulation of 
that sense of right which stands in a relation of 
supremacy to them. " The sense of duty, the power 
of discerning and doing right, the moral and reli- 
gious principle, the inward monitor which speaks in 
the name of God to the capacity of virtue or excel- 
lence — this is the great gift of God. We can con- 
ceive no greater. In seraph and archangel we can 
conceive no higher energy than the power of virtue, 
or the power of forming themselves after the will 
and moral perfections of God. This povv^er breaks 
down all barriers between the seraph and the lowest 
human being ; it makes them brethren. Whoever 
has derived from God this perception, and capacity 
of rectitude, has a bond of union with the spiritual 
w^oiid stronger than all the ties of nature. He 

B 



18 



possesses a principle which, if he is faithful to it, 
must carry him forward for ever, and ensures to 
him the improvement and happiness of the highest 
order of heings. It is this moral power which 
makes all men essentially equal — wdiich annihilates 
all the distinctions of this world. Through this 
the ignorant and the poor may become the greatest 
of the race, for the greatest is he who is most true 
to the principle of duty*." 

The sentiments I have just quoted show how 
Dr. Channuig considered the welfare and progress 
of the individual man to depend upon him^self — how 
he regarded " self culture," in the high moral sense 
wliich he attached to it, to he the means of accom- 
plishing the great purposes of human existence. 
He applied the very same principle to the welfare 
and progress of man in Ms social and civil capacity. 
His social science, his political theories, were based 
upon the same comdction of the glory belonging 
to human nature which lay at the foundation of 
his views of man's individual happiness. What- 
ever was calculated to destroy or interfere with 
the spiritual energy by which men work out for 
themselves a destiny of good, he 023posed. What- 
ever was calculated to uphold or di-aw forth the 
intellectual and moral power which mankind pos- 
sess, giving it unfettered play and urdimited range, 
he advocated. He taught that the true interest 
of famihes, of churches, of trade, of government, 
of every institution by which men are connected 
together, was the same moral interest which ought 
Sermon on Honour due to all Men. 



19 



to regulate all private and personal affairs ; and that 
the great object aimed at in all these departments 
of life should be the preservation, and establish- 
ment, and extension, of the spiritual principles 
mth which that interest is identified. A happy 
family, with him, Avas one all whose members mutu- 
ally acted up to their own sense of truth and good- 
ness, A well ordered church was one all whose 
component parts were animated by the spiritual 
vigour which Christianity may inspire into every 
heart A prosperous trading community was one 
in which master and servant, buyer and seller, 
conducted themselves toward each other in consis- 
tency mth the moral justice which is applicable to 
the affairs of commerce. And a good government 
was one which, while an enlightened morality formed 
the rule of its own proceedings, gave to all its sub- 
jects the equal rights which constitute the platform 
of morality among themselves. 

Therefore was he the advocate of freedom — 
freedom being the only condition on which the 
spiritual nature of man can exert its strength and 
accomplish its growth. Freedom in education, the 
mind and heart being taught to expand themselves 
to every light of truth. Freedom in church govern- 
ment, every fetter of a human creed being removed 
from its administration. Freedom in all the trans- 
actions of mercantile life, no restrictions in favour 
of monopoly being permitted. Freedom in the con- 
stitution and the laws which relate to national 
protection. 

We find him at one time lifting up his voice 



20 



against the love of power which disphxys itself in 
conquest. And why ? Because the exercise of such 
power checks and destroys that nobler power by 
which, mind acting upon mind, and heart upon 
heart, an empire is established, surer, wider, happier, 
better far, than a Napoleon had conception of 

We find him at another time denouncing sla- 
very. And why ] Not chiefly because of the par- 
ticular evils of which it is seen and felt to be the 
source, but because it is in itself an outrage upon 
the spiritual dignity and a barrier to the moral 
progress of man. 

We find him, again, facing the rage of the mob 
who would fain put down unpopular opinion by 
lawless violence. And why ] Not only because of 
the destruction of property, and injury to person, of 
which they were guilty, but because the very prin- 
ciple of their violence was a violation of the intel- 
lectual and moral rights of their enemies. 

We find him, once more, carefully balancing 
the evil and good which belonged to the different 
organised associations around him, and estimating 
them as beneficial only so far as they gave occasion 
to the exercise of spiritual freedom on the part of 
their members, and pointing out how the very prin- 
ciple of association needed to be guarded and re- 
strained, lest it should produce a tyranny which 
would be the no less fearful in its despotism be- 
cause it assumed a voluntary guise. 

To such views of humanity as these, I, with my 
whole heart, subscribe. This identification of human 
interests, in their personal and associated forms, with 



21 



the free moral cultivation of man's spiritual nature, 
I would enforce upon you. Were I seeking for 
an instance of the truth of these views, I would 
not go beyond Dr. Channing himself to find it. He 
acted upon the principles he recommxcnded. He 
asserted the independence for which he pleaded. 
He carried out the spiritual liberty which he en- 
deavoured to promote in others. He worked up to 
the moral standard he erected ; and in his own 
person he proved that a character formed upon these 
principles was infinitely more powerful than any 
other instrumentality which can be employed for 
human regeneration and blessing. He has done 
more in his own country, and in this country, for 
the high and holy causes with which he identified 
himself, than any array of external machinery could 
have effected, whether depending upon compulsory 
or voluntary means, or conducted by civil govern- 
ment or associated bodies of men. He has demon- 
strated the great lesson he delivered — that the mind 
of man, individually asserting the native strength 
with which God has endowed it, is the mightiest 
force which the whole universe contains. 

These views of humanity are not only true and 
valuable in themselves, but are especially important 
at this time, concurring as they do with the ten- 
dency of events around us, while they shew how 
that tendency may be most wisely and beneficially 
fulfilled. Channing was in an eminent degree the 
prophet of his day. The principles he laid down 
were those for the clear and powerful utterance of 
which the course of things had prepared mankind, 



22 



and were immediately calculated to direct the efforts 
and encourage the hopes most natural to the civi- 
lised world. To the exact suitability of his teachings 
to this period of human history he owed his success 
no less than to the strength of his own character ; 
and we have to bless God that he appeared at once 
to point out the evils, and to facilitate the acquire- 
ment of the benefits, with which the present move- 
ment of society is fraught. The debt of obligation 
between him and society is mutual. We reverence 
him not only as a great and good man, but as one 
to whom it will be found that the present crisis of 
human afi'airs owes more, as to the clear expression 
of its wants, and the effective assistance toward ob- 
taining them, than to any other single individual. 

2. From this exposition of the "vdews which 
Channing entertained of Humanity, I proceed to no- 
tice the supreme importance which he attached to 
Religion. 

Religion, according to him, constitutes the great 
means by which the spiritual nature of man may be 
cultivated toward the perfection to which it is des- 
tined. The person of God presents that perfection 
to us in its absolute form. The relations in which 
we stand to God suggest the highest obligations to 
make it the object of our pursuit. The affections 
which may spring up between us and God, endear 
those obligations to our hearts as nothing else can. 
And the connection between the character of God 
and all natural operations, places the conduct w^e 
practise toward him in harmony with the universe 
around us. Thus he expounded his sentiments on 



23 



this point: — "We have a power which cannot stop 
at what we see and handle, at what exists within 
the bounds of space and time ; which seeks for the 
infinite uncreated Cause ; which cannot rest till it 
ascend to the eternal all-comprehending Mind. 
This we call the religious principle, and its grandeur 
cannot be exaggerated by human language ; for it 
marks out a being destined for higher communion 
than with the visible universe. To develope this is 
eminently to educate ourselves. The true idea of God 
unfolded clearly and livingly within us, and moving 
us to adore and obey him, and to aspire after- 
likeness to him, is the noblest growth in human, 
and, I may add, in celestial natures*." "God is 
another name for intellectual and moral excellence, 
and in the knowledge of him our intellectual and 
moral powers find their element, nutriment, strength, 
expansion, and happiness. To know God is to at- 
tain to the sublimest conception in the universe. 
To love God is to bind ourselves to a being who is 
fitted as no other being is, to penetrate and move 
our whole hearts ; in loving whom we exalt our- 
selves ; in loving whom we love the great, the good, 
the beautiful, and the infinite ; and under whose 
influence the soul unfolds itself as a perennial 
plant under the cherishing sun-j*." "Religion is the 
mightiest agent in human afl'airs. To this belongs 
pre-eminently the work of freeing and elevating the 
mind. All other means are comparatively impotent. 
It is the only spring by which the crushing weight 

^ Self Culture. 
f The great Purpose of Christianity, 



24 



of sense, of the world, and temptation, can be Avitli- 
stood. It has acconiphshed more, it has strength- 
ened men to do and snlTer more, than all other 
pruiciples. It can snstain the mind against all 
other powers. Without God our existence has no 
support, oui' life no aim, our improvements no per- 
manence, our best labours no sure and enduring 
results, our spiritual weakness no power to lean 
upon, and our* noblest aspirations and desii'es no 
pledge of being realised in a better state*." The 
multitude of paragraphs like those I have just 
quoted to be found in Channing's writings, and 
the manner in which the great idea they express is 
interwoven with all his discussions and appeals, is 
as remarkable as any one thing connected with liim. 
Religion was not only a subject to which he devoted 
his attention, but it constituted in his mind the sub- 
ject, a correspondence with which was the fulfilment 
of the true and eternal pui'poses of our being. 

Eehgion he identified ^^ith Christianity. He 
never contented himself with setting forth the glory 
of the religious principle alone. The revelation of 
the gospel with him sustained the same relation to 
that principle which the facts of nature do to scien- 
tific investigation. He was a Christian in the most 
positive sense of that term. One who not only ad- 
mired Christianity, but who believed it to be true 
and divine — who upheld it and proclaimed it as the 
truth which God himself had made ImoAvn, in order 
by its means to satisfy the rehgious wants of man- 
kuid. If there be any part of his works which will 

"^'^ Sjjirilual Freedom. 



25 



live for ever, it is that in which he has vindicated 
the divinity of the gospel. The arguments he has 
conducted on that head appear to me to possess 
singular truth and power. They not only convince 
the understanding, but they move the heart in 
favour of Christianity as no others do with which I 
am acquainted. Theirs is no cold logic ; but, exci- 
ting the deepest sympathies of the soid, they esta- 
blish a Christian belief which can only be shaken 
by injuring the moral feehngs of our nature. 

Channing was a great champion of the truth of 
Christianity. He was more. He threw light upon 
parts of the Christian system by which they are 
exhibited to us mtli all the freshness and force of 
originaHty. I may venture to say, that never before 
was the uifluence of the gospel upon the human 
mind — " redeeming it and setting it free by cleans- 
ing it from evil, breathing into it the love of vu'tue, 
calling forth its noblest faculties and affections, 
enduing it with moral power, and restoring it to 
order and health " — described in the striking terms 
in which he has described it. And I may also 
venture to say, that never was the character of 
Christ — its truth, and goodness, and power, its 
blended divinity and humanity, its incomparable 
elevation and practical utility — exhibited as he has 
exhibited it. Description and exhibition do not by 
any means express the work he performed in these 
and other respects. It was his to unfold and expand. 

Bear with me a little w^hile I proceed to declare 
that the Christianity which he held was, as to all 
the points of the Trinitarian controversy, Unitarian 
in its character. He believed that God was one, 



26 



ill person as well as in essence. He believed that 
Christ came to save men, not by affecting God on 
their behalf, but by raising them to the likeness of 
God. He grounded his belief on these heads, not 
upon mere reasoning, but upon revelation ; and it 
was one of his objects to show that the difference 
between him and others arose from the stricter 
adherence on his part to the records of our common 
faith, and the more devoted attachment to the great 
purposes of that faith. His Unitarianism w^as no 
negative belief, whatever Unitarianism has been in 
the hands of others. 

He was not from the beginning of his ministry 
a Unitarian. Unitarianism was adopted by him as 
the result of investigations by which he was led to 
reject the opinions in wdiich he had been educated. 
It stood to him in the relation of truth, to the con- 
viction of which he had arrived by painful and 
laborious research. 

There is one thing which strikes me in reading 
what he has written on this subject more than any 
other. I may be biassed in this opinion by my own 
theological views, but the conclusions to which he 
brought himself seem to me to have been the na- 
tural and necessary effect of the superior mental 
power which he exercised. That power may be dis- 
tinctly, characteristically, traced in its bearing upon 
those conclusions. The process of mind which led 
him to them, was exactly the same process which 
led him to the more elevated views which he enter- 
tained relative to human nature and society. I can- 
not follow his course of thought without feeling 
that for him to have adopted other conclusions 



2T 



would have been a violation of tlie intellectual prin- 
ciples by which he was invariably influenced. I 
should not say this of others, e^^en distinguished 
men, who held similar opinions to his, but I cannot 
help saying it of hini. I he.ve observed that it was 
one of the tendencies of his mind to concern himself 
mainly with the principles of a subject, and that 
the principles he adopted were conceived by him 
with extraordinary strength and fulness of tlioughte 
Guided by the Christian revelation, he brought these 
characteristics to bear upon such questions as I am 
now alluding to. He threw his Christianity into 
the form of principle, and the residt was, that he 
found the notion of the tri-personality of the Divine 
Being to interfere with the principle of religion as 
developed in the gospel ; and he found the notion 
of divine satisfaction to interfere with the principle 
of morality as laid down there. In that form he 
constantly put the case ; and when he had to con- 
tend for the personal unity of the Deity, he did so 
because he identified that doctrine with the interests 
of piety ; and wdien he had to contend for the ex- 
clusively moral influence of the work of Jesus, he 
did so because he identified that doctrine with the 
interests of virtue. Whoever will turn to his ser- 
mons on these points, will find, howsoever much he 
may difi'er from their author, that it was^ no petty 
and feeble heresy which led him astray, but that he 
was carried along in his theological couise by the 
same noble, and exalted, and pure, and extensive, 
conceptions of the interests with which he had to 
do, as wrought upon him in all other cases. 

I am speaking to some who do not agree with 



28 



Dr. Chaiiiiiiig in theological opinion. And I say 
that, at least, a lesson of charity is to he learned hy 
them when they connect the fact of their disagree- 
ment with the intellectual and moral character of 
a man like this. To exclude such an one from the 
pale of Christianity because he was not what is 
called orthodox — one whose whole thought, and 
feeling, and conduct, were imbued with a deeper 
and loftier Christian spirit than belonged to almost 
any other of whom we have a record — would be 
the vilest of all heresies — a heresy which strikes at 
the root of every moral principle which Christianity 
appeared to establish. I say, they are bound to go 
farther than this concession of charity will lead 
them. They are bound, in spite of their theological 
differences, to treat with respect and reverence — 
Christian respect and reverence — a character in 
which the influence of the religion they possess 
was so illustriously displayed. They are bound to 
acknowledge far more than that the Christian name 
belonged to him ; that is, indeed, but a little thing 
to acknowledge — far more than that he was en- 
titled to all the rewards of sincerity ; that would 
be too shameless to deny — they are bound to con- 
fess tha.t his opinions accomplished in him the highest 
purposes of Christianity, and that they were Chris- 
tian in the sense of being able to confer upon those 
who faithfully hold them, all the spiritual and eter- 
nal advantages which the gospel brings to light. 

Dr. Channino: was a Unitarian. I have another 
position to advance under this head. He did not 
leave Unitarianism as he found it. He conferred 
upon it benefits of no ordinary kind. He has been 



29 



the chief means of producmg a revokitioii in the 
sentiments and conduct of those who profess this 
form of Christianity, which cannot be passed by in 
a notice of him from this place. Though the 
change may relate rather to the mode of adminis- 
tering religious truth, than to the substance of the 
truth itself, it is both striking and important. 

He has given to the expositions of Unitarian 
doctrine a more evangehcal character. He has 
produced a stricter and more constant reference to 
the great principles on which the gospel bases those 
truths which relate to the moral interests of man, 
as distinguished from an exclusively rational inves- 
tig-ation of such truths. Under his influence, what 
has been frequently called mere moraliti/, has given 
place to the religious considerations which aim at 
cultivating the wdiole nature of man in obedience 
to the affections inspired by the idea of God, so 
that it may approach to the likeness of God. Under 
his influence, all the peculiar instrumentalities of 
Christianity, and especially those which are involved 
in the character of Jesus Christ himself — instru- 
mentalities whose power lies in the spiritual prin- 
ciples with which they furnish the heart — have risen 
to an importance wdiich was not previously con- 
ceded to them, superseding, in a great measure, 
arguments of natural utihty which appeal only to 
the understanding. 

The philosophical change which he has pro- 
duced, is little less remarkable than the theological 
one. The doctrines of Materialism and Necessity, 
which, in days gone by, gave so much of their own 
character to Unitarian preaching and writing, now, 



30 



mainly I believe, through his iiilluence, give clia- 
racter to them no longer. Whatever may be said 
in favour of tliose doctrines, it is felt that it is not 
by them that the nature of man can be roused to 
those efforts in which the religious principle dis- 
plays itself They who hold these doctrines in 
their severest form, hold them rather as specula- 
tions which may satisfy the thought, than as prin- 
ciples of any practical usefulness. But the change 
does not stop there. '\^lthin the circle in which 
Dr. Channing has most forcibly operated, these 
doctrines are now generally acknowledged to afford, 
at the best, only a partial explanation of the mental 
facts to which they are applied. The material 
theory has been succeeded bv one which recoomises 
the existence of faculties which, however con- 
trouled by matter, h.ave powers and tendencies for 
which matter cannot account : and the necessity to 
wliich man is subjected, is confessed not to absorb 
the free and independent action of vrhich his spiri- 
tual nature makes him capable. I'pon what is 
spiritual and what is free, the strength, and purity, 
and progress, of humanity- — all that gives character 
and power to the man himself — must depend. A 
clear perception of this truth has grown up among 
us, and its effect has been to give a more vital and 
earnest character to the religious teachings which 
it has modified, causing' tliem to strike more di- 
rectly upon the sense of responsibility attaching to 
man. It is a change for the better. A change 
which has brought Unitarian teaching, not only into 
a nearer conformity to human nature, but also into 
a more exact resemblance to the teaching of him 



31 



whose words were " spirit and life." I do not say 
that Dr. Channing discussed the points to which I 
have referred in their metaphysical form. He did 
not do so. In that form he can scarcely be said to 
have delivered his opinion upon them. It was by 
practical appeals to the spiritual freedom of man, 
that he accomplished the work for which I have 
given him credit — appeals whose truth was mani- 
fested by the moral power which they were felt to 
possess. Xor am I advocating the substitution of 
one metaphysical theory for another, in connexion 
with Unitarianism. I advocate a mode of religious 
action which is independent of all such theories ; 
and I am thankful that, in the present instance, 
metaphysical speculation is no longer suffered to 
controul that warm and energetic application of 
Christian truth to the heart and conscience of man- 
kind which so eminently distinguishes the records 
of our faith. May the churches upon whom Chan- 
ning's reforming efforts were most directly brought 
to bear, contmue to " rejoice in the burning and 
shining light " which arose in his person to guide 
^d bless them. 

I have now finished my task. I close my re- 
marks with a deep consciousness of the imperfect 
manner in which I have fulfiUed the work I under- 
took. It is with no affectation of humility that I 
say, my description has been altogether beneath 
the subject. I never once opened Dr. Channing's 
w^orks for the purpose of extracting the passages I 
have quoted, without acutely feeling that this was 
the case. You can test this for yourselves. If 
anything I have said shall have persuaded you to 



read and study those works, all my wishes on this 
subject will be accomplished. I have spoken of 
him in no sectarian spirit I trust ; and I desire to 
accomplish no sectarian object by this concluding 
recommendation. Whatever your opinions or pur- 
suits may be, you cannot rise from the perusal of 
his writings without being wiser and better. It is 
your duty to avail yourselves of the advantages 
which he has put within your reach. A great and 
good man is the best blessing which God can con- 
fer upon the world. It is God's main instrument 
in regenerating and improving mankind. You are 
responsible for the use of that blessing. You are 
responsible for it in this case. This man and his 
writings were no accidents. The example of the 
one, and the teaching of the other, are means which 
God has devised for our mental and moral advance- 
ment. May you faithfully and diligently employ 
those means. I have no doubt but that they will 
be so employed by others, if not by you, and that 
countless multitudes, in generations yet unborn, 
remembering the service which he did to the 
highest interests of humanity, will " rejoice at his 
birth." 



E. CAllTEK, PRINTER, HIGH-STREET, COVENTRY. 



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